Veteran goalkeeper Edsel Scott scored one penalty and saved another as Tivoli Gardens blanked Harbour View 2-0 for their first win of the 2015-16 Red Stripe Premier League season at the Edward Seaga Sports Complex yesterday.
With Tivoli Gardens leading 1-0, courtesy of a Junior Flemmings solo effort in the 33rd minute, Scott calmly converted a penalty kick in the 71st minute before diving to his right at the other end to deny Nicholas Beckett from the spot in the 87th minute.
It was Tivoli Gardens’ first win of the season from five games, as they jumped two places up to eighth on five points.
Head Coach Christopher Bender was more than pleased to see his team finally kick-starting their season.
“I thought we played well in terms of playing two good halves, and that’s one of the things we weren’t doing well. We were in this position last week leading with 12 minutes to go and we gave it up by making two mistakes,” Bender reflected.
Harbour View, who were losing for the first time this season, remained in seventh spot on six points and Coach Ludlow Bernard was clearly disappointed.
“What has been going wrong for us the whole season is that we don’t have that cutting-edge in terms of when we attack. We do make good midfield play, but in terms of having someone like a regular goalscorer or someone who threatens the goal a lot, I find that we are short in that area and you realise we have not scored more than a single goal in a game,” said Bernard.
It wasn’t the most attractive encounter between two of the nation’s top teams as they battled hard for the ascendancy. But once the home team gained the upper hand, the writing was on the wall.
Flemmings, the National Under-20 captain, survived two tough challenges as he outsped the defenders before calmly firing a left-footer past the advancing Devon Haughton in goal.
Tivoli Gardens earned a penalty in the 71st minute and Flemmings, who spotted the ball, eventually yielded and allowed goalkeeper Scott to register his first goal in the premier league, much to the delight of the home fans.
“Flemmings told me one of the players knew which way he was going and he didn’t want to change, so we just went back to our regular penalty taker,” revealed Bender.
Then in the 87th minute, referee Valdin Legister awarded his second spot kick — this time to Harbour View, and the normally assured Beckett saw his low shot brilliantly turned around for a corner by Scott.
Source: The Jamaica Observer